Updates from the OR
Jarrahy Reza, MD, believes he's just as responsible for the state of
mind of patients' relatives as he is for ensuring the success of the sur-
gery itself. "The more at ease the caregivers are, the less stress they
experience and show, and the more positively they'll support patients
during recovery," says the associate clinical professor of surgery and
pediatrics at UCLA Health in Los Angeles, Calif.
He uses an application that lets his surgical team send prepro-
grammed messages via text or email to patients' anxious relatives and
friends. The platform comes with canned messages about the
progress of a case, but the surgical team can also send customized
messages. Patients give permission to Dr. Reza and his team to send
text or email updates over a secured, encrypted and HIPAA-compliant
platform to an unlimited number of friends and family members who
are waiting inside and outside the hospital. A member of the team
opens the app, scrolls to the appropriate message and sends it to the
patient's entire support system.
The program eliminates a nurse having to call out to the waiting
room and remaining on hold until one of the patient's escorts makes
their way over to the phone. Patients' family members tend to also ask
the nurse questions about the surgery. "That's fine and appropriate, but
the nurse might get wrapped up in answering those questions or yell
over to the surgeon for more information," says Dr. Reza. "That breaks
up the rhythm and flow of the operation."
Utilizing technology to facilitate communication with patients' loved
ones helps Dr. Reza foster the community patients rely on for support
and healing and improved overall patient sat-
isfaction. "I've gotten a tremendous amount
of positive feedback from patients' loved
ones who say that being kept up to date in
1 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 1 8
Make sure you
have a ride home
